Klauser posted:

For grenadine I put equal parts POM and sugar in a mason jar and shake till combined.

I think that's what some drunk bartender was trying to tell me. Sounds good though. I love having a bar full of fresh or home made ingredients. Well, at least personally prepared ones. I'm not going to make my own pomegranate juice when POM is perfectly fine.

In other news. I can't bartend for at least a month now. Had a wine glass stem break while polishing it. The sharp end went right into my palm, the fat part below my pinkie closer to my wrist. I got five sutures and a nerve/tendon problem and can't use my dominate hand for poo poo. Gotta wait for my hand specialist in 2 weeks before I know the extent of the damage.

I just found out I can get Marie Brizard creme de cacao locally. This is a Red Letter Day.

Speaking of spirits, I picked up a bottle of St. George Absinthe. It's tasty and great in cocktails, but gently caress dude why did they use a wine-style cork closure? It's like they didn't understand how corks work. There was no wine sitting on it keeping it hydrated, so the dry-rear end cork broke in half when I was opening it. Then it would shed little pieces of cork when I put it in and out. I had to re-use an old top from a bottle of Plantation Barbados 5-Year rum, which is a cork that is appropriate to a bottle of spirits. Super frustrating.

Although the fact that I can make Corpse Reviver #2s now somewhat mitigates my irritation.

Untrue! There are just no other corpse revivers worth making. The #1, for example, is just brandy, applejack, and Italian vermouth. Probably fine, as these things go, but nothing to write home about. #3 is murkier, but seems to contain gin and Cointreau, at least. Who knows.

In other news, I finally made it out to Smuggler's Cove in SF tonight and it was reeeeaaaaally good, though from the sound of things I did the right thing coming on a weeknight – they're only rated for 49 people, so I guess it gets pretty crowded. But it firmed my resolved to declare this upcoming summer the Summer of Rum and really flesh out my rum collection. Also to get (or make, idk) some falernum, pimento dram, and various juices and nectars. Tiki! I'll have to buy some lounge chairs and dedicate a few days to really indolent backyard Tiki drinking.

Transistor Rhythm posted:

I went to New Orleans last year and fell in love with Sazeracs, and I've been making my own at home. I've been using Bulleit Rye, which has served me well, but I hear a lot of people online talking about doing an older Cognac version or a half-and-half rye/cognac version, but they all mandate VSOP Cognac. I've never had Cognac in my life and can't really find VSOP anywhere, I just find VS - would that be a reasonable substitute or is it going to be completely different? Is VSOP a "perfect world" version, but VS will be fine?

Imo 100% cognac Sazeracs are the absolute poo poo and as much as I love rye I don't rate Rye Sazeracs at all. You should probably be using a VSOP for most cocktails if you can, especially the drier style of drinks, if you can get your hands on a bottle of Hine, that's probably your best bet. I'd try the VS anyway to get an idea, but ideally you shouldn't do that until you get a bottle of VSOP to compare the end result with, otherwise you'll probably just hate Cognac Sazeracs forever since it won't have nearly as much going for it as it might with an older base. Its such a prominently cognac drink that relies on the host spirit for a lot of its personality

Also I ordered a bottle of Wray and Nephew OP rum and I'm gonna make a weed tincture and then put it inside of a watermelon. I'm pretty excited. If anyone has any tips on using an OP rum rather than spiritus for making a tincture I'd be all ears.

Kenning posted:

Untrue! There are just no other corpse revivers worth making. The #1, for example, is just brandy, applejack, and Italian vermouth. Probably fine, as these things go, but nothing to write home about

These words are all a complete sentence that on the surface appear to have a functioning syntax and meaningful semantics but they make no sense! I get worked up even THINKING about Applejack cocktails, but maybe its because I'm not an American and its really hard to get here.

MC Eating Disorder fucked around with this message at Apr 26, 2012 around 19:01

I didn't mean to besmirch the good name of applejack – far from it. It's just if I wanted applejack I'd make a Star Cocktail (applejack, Italian vermouth, and bitters). Or a Jack Rose, with grenadine and lemon. Or something along those lines. For whatever reason the idea of mixing cognac and applejack just seems...uninspiring.

W/r/t to the Wray and Nephew, do not do not do not use it to make green dragon. Leave that to vodka. You'll understand when it arrives – W&N is a flavor bomb that wants you to treat it with respect. Try making an atomic daiquiri with it, for example, or a Periodista (he calls for Banks Five Island, but I'm sure Wray and Nephew would work great, though it'd be strong). Or you can drink it how they drink it in Jamaica, with grapefruit soda. It would probably be good with fresh grapefruit juice, a bit of sugar, and soda water too.

Falernum isn't a bad idea, but I can do that with any white rum, really. I'm interested in making the weed tincture because its a high proof alcohol that I can still drink without having to dilute it too much I guess. I really like the taste of it neat, has a really similar vibe to a well made blanco tequila, imo.

Wrt to the Corpse Reviver Number 1, I do agree that it's not a super complex or immaculately well balanced cocktail, but it was the first thing I ever drank applejack in and its just a good tasty drink I hold in incredibly high regard, possibly for sentimental reasons.

Also in response to the above question about simple syrup, I've never had to do anything to preserve sugar syrup. It should do that just fine on its own. The main issue with syrups is that if there's a large amount of organic material in the syrup (I'm thinking of pineapple syrup as the biggest culprit), it will go off quite easily without a decent proof alcohol to fortify it with. I was always told that it had to be an overproof spirit, but here an overproof spirit is pretty much defined as anything higher than 80 proof so I don't know for sure to be honest.

Also, we strained all the milk fat out of a rum shrub tonight at work and it was like delicious fatty rum sherbet and I feel so loving gross but I don't regret eating a spoonful of it at all.

MC Eating Disorder fucked around with this message at Apr 28, 2012 around 20:00

Yeah, I never use alcohol in any of my syrups, and the only times I've lost a bottle is when I've left it out overnight during an overly-enthusiastic cocktail session. Most of the times if they're refrigerated they're bullet proof, in my experience.

I ran out of all my hard liquor and I'm broke so I'm drinking Benedictine sours aw yeah put some cinnamon syrup in that poo poo. Not too much though cause putting syrup in liqueur sours is pretty gross most of the time. My cinnamon syrup is always super strong though because I just leave it in there after I make it and it keeps going.

MC Eating Disorder fucked around with this message at Apr 29, 2012 around 05:15

Can anybody recommend cocktail bars in San Francisco? I'm in the bottom of the Mission, so end up at Beretta or Range when I want nice cocktails almost exclusively, but want to start hitting some of the better spots around the city. I've been to Rickhouse, and their other 3 bars are on my list, as is Smuggler's Cove. Where else should I go?

pork never goes bad posted:

Cross-posting from the Bay Area thread:

Can anybody recommend cocktail bars in San Francisco? I'm in the bottom of the Mission, so end up at Beretta or Range when I want nice cocktails almost exclusively, but want to start hitting some of the better spots around the city. I've been to Rickhouse, and their other 3 bars are on my list, as is Smuggler's Cove. Where else should I go?

MullardEL34 posted:

Inspired by some previous posts in this thread, I just made an old fashioned with Brugal Anejo Rum. Why haven't I tried this before? Its delicious.

Peach bitters is probably my favourite thing to add to a rum old fashioned imo.

Also I made a new batch of spiced rum last night but its coming into winter and I wanted to try something a little different, so I switched up the recipe and added some chocolate and replaced lime zest with orange zest, and cut back on the anise a little bit. The end result will hopefully be ideal for spiced rum alexanders but I think I went a little too heavy on the chocolate. A day later and its all dissolved and its a bit more viscous than it was yesterday. No issues with fat seperating, which was my main concern with infusing chocolate, but I think I might might a second batch sans chocolate, and mix the two together to balance it out. Here's the recipe if anyone cares

I think that was everything, testing it out an an Alexander right now, the other stuff probably hasn't infused properly yet but I want to get an idea of how up in my face the chocolate is gonna be.

surprisingly, the orange is probably the most overbearing flavour in there at the moment and I'm probably gonna have to pull that out before anything else, maybe the anise as well while I'm at it and let it sit for another couple of days with the coffee beans and cinnamon. No need to marry up two batches, I think the amount of chocolate was perfect flavourwise, its just changed how the liquid acts really dramatically and that's freaking me out a little bit but it's cool I'm cool.

MC Eating Disorder fucked around with this message at May 3, 2012 around 07:16

Aviation - 2oz gin, 1oz citrus (I used lime as they are extremely cheap at my local grocer right now, but honestly lemon is better in this drink), dash luxardo, large dash creme de violette, shaken up
Last Word - 1 part gin, 1 part green chartreuse, 1 part lime, 1 part luxardo, shaken up
And the last I mixed off the cuff - 3oz Oude Genever, dash Orange Citrate, 2/3 oz lime, 1 oz pineapple gum syrup, shaken up - sweet, thick and bitter. The Orange Citrate is a hard ingredient to use - for a product advertised as not being bitter, it has a distinct bitterness which I find hard to incorporate into a drink. I'd almost certainly rather this drink with Peychauds, or perhaps Regan's.

ETA - I made a second Last Word using Oude Genever instead of dry gin. An excellent variation.

Put some small ice (I have a tiny ice cube tray, but cracked would work just as well) into a tall glass. Pour in a couple ounces of soda water, then the gin, lime, and marschino (be generous), and top with soda. Sip through a straw.

If you omit the gin it's a great hangover cure. I loving love Rickeys.

royalejest posted:

Is there a midpriced, non-well, general purpose bourbon I should be using in my cocktails other than Maker's?

I just ran out, and before I restocked for Derby Day with the same stuff, I figured I'd check.

For general bourbon cocktails, I'm a big fan of Old Grand-Dad (the 100 proof Bottled In Bond version with orange cap, not the 80 proof). Cheap and great; however, it won't produce drinks like the ones with Maker's since it has rye (spicy) and Maker's has wheat (sweet). I find the sharper, peppery flavor works better in most drinks with other aggressive ingredients (vermouth, lemon, lots of bitters, etc).

That said, since it's Derby Day, a wheat bourbon is actually best for simpler, cleaner drinks like a julep--try Weller Antique 107 for that (no guarantee it's cheaper than Maker's, but it might be).

royalejest posted:

Is there a midpriced, non-well, general purpose bourbon I should be using in my cocktails other than Maker's?

I just ran out, and before I restocked for Derby Day with the same stuff, I figured I'd check.

My favorite workhorse bourbons are Wild Turkey 101, Buffalo Trace, and (depending on the price), Bulleit. These are more assertive Bourbons than Maker's Mark, though, so consider that. If you want to keep with wheated bourbons, try Old Fitzgerald. Evan Williams Black also consistently comes up as a good buy -- I think it's supposed to have a balanced flavor.

Edit: I've always wanted to try Bernheim Wheat as a mixing whiskey (for the softer, gentler Manhattan). Anyone have any experience with this?

DasNeonLicht fucked around with this message at May 7, 2012 around 21:41

quote:

PREPARATION:
Muddle the kiwi in a shaker. Add the simple syrup, St-Germain and ice. Shake until chilled and add a splash of club soda. Strain the mixture into a cocktail glass and top with sparkling wine. Garnish the drink with a kiwi slice.

Peel the oranges, leaving as little white pith as possible. Trim the pith if there's a lot. Muddle the peels with the sugar and let sit for at least one hour, though longer is better. After the sugar has drawn out lots of oil, add the pineapple to the bowl and muddle it all up in the sugar, then juice the oranges, strain the juice, and add to the mixture. Strain this with a cheese cloth and squeeze to get all the tastiness you can from it. Next add the syrup, the spirits, and the wine, stirring until everything is well combined. This can be bottled and chilled before service, and I recommend making a day or so in advance so you have plenty of time for the peels to sit on the sugar etc.

At the moment of service pour the mixture of fruit, sugar, and spirits (i.e. the stock), the seltzer, and the champagne into an appropriately-sized bowl, stir gently, and add an ice block. Serve in small cups so that they don't get warm before people drain them.

This is what I drank on New Year's last, and I heartily recommend it for all palates.

A single recipe as written here is good for around 10 standard drinks, or enough for 3 or 4 people. I like making a triple batch, which uses 2 bottles of white wine and 3 of champagne, yielding enough for a nice crowd of 12 or so. If you were to do a 6-times batch you could use a half case of champagne, 4 bottles of white wine, and a whole pineapple, and you would have my blessings and congratulations.

A single batch is around 88 oz., or 2.75 quarts. A triple is more like 2 gallons of liquid. To serve a triple batch I'd use a 10-12 quart bowl, and use a 2-3 quart ice block, which you can make by freezing water in a stainless steel or plastic bowl over night. Whatever volume you end up making, 1/4 the amount of liquid is a good size for the ice block.

This is an elementally simple punch. If you want to make this one I recommend preparing the tea and lemon juice a couple hours in advance, and having them chill in the fridge along with the champagne. Have the cognac and the Gran Marnier in the freezer. Then build it in the bowl in front of your guests.

Muddle the peels of about a dozen lemons with the sugar and let sit for an hour or more to draw out the oils. Then, with great ceremony, assemble your bottles of juice, tea, spirits, and champagne around the bowl. Pour in the green tea and lemon juice. This should be enough to dissolve the sugar, so stir vigorously and then remove the peels with a slotted spoon or other such device. Your guests may want to help pour in the cognac and Gran Marnier. Stir those in well also. Finally, pop your half case of champagne and speak some word of toast or congratulations to everyone assembled and pour. A few more gentle stirs and in with the ice block!

What do your serve the punch in? I imagine the only thing most people have that would be big enough for that volume would be some kind of bucket, maybe a soup pan... which obviously doesn't quite match the drink.